Raid Ruffles Gamblers In Furs

By CHUCK SUDETIC

Published: March 31, 1995

The elderly ladies in their fancy furs started spilling onto the street after dark Wednesday in Brooklyn, complaining that their evening had been ruined by the police. But neighbors said it was about time the gambling den in the basement of the Kings Highway Jewish Center was shut down.

When officers entered the building in Midwood, a tidy community of well-appointed homes in the heart of Brooklyn, they found 17 blackjack tables and a roulette wheel. They also came upon some $13,000 in cash, indicating the operation wasn't exactly penny-ante gaming.

Neighbors said they had been complaining about the casino for about a year, and when the police rounded everybody up they ended up arresting 28 employees and herding some 60 customers onto the street, many of them angry at the sudden turn of events.

"The Police Department came in and brought the people out in chains," said Henry Morrow, the center's president, who said he did not know any gambling was going on in the basement. "We had no reason to believe there was any question of impropriety. We had nothing to do with it."

But residents of the surrounding area said the noise from the casino could sometimes be heard into the early-morning hours.

"They were coming out at 4 A.M., banging the car doors and yelling in screechy voices about losing their money," said one resident of the neighborhood who would not give her full name. "Once a fistfight broke out. We were waiting for the guns to start."

In Wednesday night's raid, the police said they did not arrest any of the customers, most of them elderly women. But the operators were charged with promoting gambling and possession of gambling devices, both misdemeanors, said Officer Kathleen Kelly, a police spokeswoman.

Officer Kelly said the department's public-information office had no information on the organization that ran the casino, or its managers. Those arrested were released on their own recognizance and scheduled to appear in court in 30 days, she said.

The casino opened about 7 P.M. every night except Monday and Friday, the beginning of the Jewish sabbath, she said. "There was no closing hour."

The raid started at about 9 P.M., and angry gamblers were still milling around on the street two hours later, hoping to be allowed back in to play, neighbors said.

"It was a lot of women," said one woman who lives next to the Jewish center and who insisted on anonymity. "They were all elderly, over 50 easy. Some were old, walking with canes, all dolled up in furs and boots."

Mr. Morrow, the center's president, said the space was rented to the casino operators, whose exact names he said he could not recall.

The center sits adjacent to a Conservative synagogue, and it operates a girls' school during the day. "The rent money goes toward the operating expenses," Mr. Morrow said, adding that the center would no longer allow the casino to operate: "No more. We don't need this kind of publicity. This hurts us."